Yocto Project Reference Manual

Currently, the Yocto Project is supported on the following distributions:

The list of packages you need on the host development system can be large when covering all build scenarios using the Yocto Project. This section provides required packages according to Linux distribution and function.

     $ sudo apt-get build-dep qemu
     $ sudo apt-get remove oss4-dev
                    

In order to use the build system, your host development system must meet the following version requirements for Git, tar, and Python:

If your host development system does not meet all these requirements, you can resolve this by installing a buildtools tarball that contains these tools. You can get the tarball one of two ways: download a pre-built tarball or use BitBake to build the tarball.

In the development environment you will need to build an image whenever you change hardware support, add or change system libraries, or add or change services that have dependencies.

Building an Image

The first thing you need to do is set up the OpenEmbedded build environment by sourcing the environment setup script (i.e. oe-init-build-env). Here is an example:

     $ source oe-init-build-env [build_dir]
            

The build_dir argument is optional and specifies the directory the OpenEmbedded build system uses for the build - the Build Directory. If you do not specify a Build Directory, it defaults to a directory named build in your current working directory. A common practice is to use a different Build Directory for different targets. For example, ~/build/x86 for a qemux86 target, and ~/build/arm for a qemuarm target.

Once the build environment is set up, you can build a target using:

     $ bitbake target
            

The target is the name of the recipe you want to build. Common targets are the images in meta/recipes-core/images, meta/recipes-sato/images, etc. all found in the Source Directory. Or, the target can be the name of a recipe for a specific piece of software such as BusyBox. For more details about the images the OpenEmbedded build system supports, see the "Images" chapter.

When building an image using GPL components, you need to maintain your original settings and not switch back and forth applying different versions of the GNU General Public License. If you rebuild using different versions of GPL, dependency errors might occur due to some components not being rebuilt.

You can find the log for a task in the file ${WORKDIR}/temp/log.do_taskname. For example, the log for the do_compile task of the QEMU minimal image for the x86 machine (qemux86) might be in tmp/work/qemux86-poky-linux/core-image-minimal/1.0-r0/temp/log.do_compile. To see the commands BitBake ran to generate a log, look at the corresponding run.do_taskname file in the same directory.

log.do_taskname and run.do_taskname are actually symbolic links to log.do_taskname.pid and log.run_taskname.pid, where pid is the PID the task had when it ran. The symlinks always point to the files corresponding to the most recent run.

BitBake's -e option is used to display variable values after parsing. The following command displays the variable values after the configuration files (i.e. local.conf, bblayers.conf, bitbake.conf and so forth) have been parsed:

     $ bitbake -e
            

The following command displays variable values after a specific recipe has been parsed. The variables include those from the configuration as well:

     $ bitbake -e recipename
            

In the output of bitbake -e, each variable is preceded by a description of how the variable got its value, including temporary values that were later overriden. This description also includes variable flags (varflags) set on the variable. The output can be very helpful during debugging.

Variables that are exported to the environment are preceded by export in the output of bitbake -e. See the following example:

     export CC="i586-poky-linux-gcc -m32 -march=i586 --sysroot=/home/ulf/poky/build/tmp/sysroots/qemux86"
            

In addition to variable values, the output of the bitbake -e and bitbake -e recipe commands includes the following information:

You can use the oe-pkgdata-util command-line utility to query PKGDATA_DIR and display various package-related information. When you use the utility, you must use it to view information on packages that have already been built.

Following are a few of the available oe-pkgdata-util subcommands.

For more information on the oe-pkgdata-util command, use the help facility:

     $ oe-pkgdata-util ‐‐help
     $ oe-pkgdata-util subcommand --help
            

Sometimes it can be hard to see why BitBake wants to build other recipes before the one you have specified. Dependency information can help you understand why a recipe is built.

To generate dependency information for a recipe, run the following command:

     $ bitbake -g recipename
            

This command writes the following files in the current directory:

The graphs are in DOT format and can be converted to images (e.g. using the dot tool from Graphviz).

You can use a different method to view dependency information by using the following command:

     $ bitbake -g -u taskexp recipename
            

This command displays a GUI window from which you can view build-time and runtime dependencies for the recipes involved in building recipename.

As mentioned in the "Checksums (Signatures)" section of the BitBake User Manual, BitBake tries to automatically determine what variables a task depends on so that it can rerun the task if any values of the variables change. This determination is usually reliable. However, if you do things like construct variable names at runtime, then you might have to manually declare dependencies on those variables using vardeps as described in the "Variable Flags" section of the BitBake User Manual.

If you are unsure whether a variable dependency is being picked up automatically for a given task, you can list the variable dependencies BitBake has determined by doing the following:

There is also a bitbake-diffsigs command for comparing two siginfo or sigdata files. This command can be helpful when trying to figure out what changed between two versions of a task. If you call bitbake-diffsigs with just one file, the command behaves like bitbake-dumpsig.

You can also use BitBake to dump out the signature construction information without executing tasks by using either of the following BitBake command-line options:

     ‐‐dump-signatures=SIGNATURE_HANDLER
     -S SIGNATURE_HANDLER
            

Using BitBake with either of these options causes BitBake to dump out sigdata files in the stamps directory for every task it would have executed instead of building the specified target package.

Any given recipe consists of a set of tasks. The standard BitBake behavior in most cases is: do_fetch, do_unpack, do_patch, do_configure, do_compile, do_install, do_package, do_package_write_*, and do_build. The default task is do_build and any tasks on which it depends build first. Some tasks, such as do_devshell, are not part of the default build chain. If you wish to run a task that is not part of the default build chain, you can use the -c option in BitBake. Here is an example:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c devshell
            

The -c option respects task dependencies, which means that all other tasks (including tasks from other recipes) that the specified task depends on will be run before the task. Even when you manually specify a task to run with -c, BitBake will only run the task if it considers it "out of date". See the "Stamp Files and the Rerunning of Tasks" section for how BitBake determines whether a task is "out of date".

If you want to force an up-to-date task to be rerun (e.g. because you made manual modifications to the recipe's WORKDIR that you want to try out), then you can use the -f option.

The following example shows one way you can use the -f option:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop
               .
               .
     make some changes to the source code in the work directory
               .
               .
     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c compile -f
     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop
            

This sequence first builds and then recompiles matchbox-desktop. The last command reruns all tasks (basically the packaging tasks) after the compile. BitBake recognizes that the do_compile task was rerun and therefore understands that the other tasks also need to be run again.

Another, shorter way to rerun a task and all normal recipe build tasks that depend on it is to use the -C option.

Using this option invalidates the given task and then runs the do_build task, which is the default task if no task is given, and the tasks on which it depends. You could replace the final two commands in the previous example with the following single command:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -C compile
            

Internally, the -f and -C options work by tainting (modifying) the input checksum of the specified task. This tainting indirectly causes the task and its dependent tasks to be rerun through the normal task dependency mechanisms.

     WARNING: /home/ulf/poky/meta/recipes-sato/matchbox-desktop/matchbox-desktop_2.1.bb.do_compile is tainted from a forced run
                

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c clean
     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop
                

You can view a list of tasks in a given package by running the do_listtasks task as follows:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop -c listtasks
            

The results appear as output to the console and are also in the file ${WORKDIR}/temp/log.do_listtasks.

You can see debug output from BitBake by using the -D option. The debug output gives more information about what BitBake is doing and the reason behind it. Each -D option you use increases the logging level. The most common usage is -DDD.

The output from bitbake -DDD -v targetname can reveal why BitBake chose a certain version of a package or why BitBake picked a certain provider. This command could also help you in a situation where you think BitBake did something unexpected.

Sometimes issues on the host development system can cause your build to fail. Following are known, host-specific problems. Be sure to always consult the Release Notes for a look at all release-related issues.

To build a specific recipe (.bb file), you can use the following command form:

     $ bitbake -b somepath/somerecipe.bb
            

This command form does not check for dependencies. Consequently, you should use it only when you know existing dependencies have been met.

The Yocto Project provides several logging functions for producing debugging output and reporting errors and warnings. For Python functions, the following logging functions exist. All of these functions log to ${T}/log.do_task, and can also log to standard output (stdout) with the right settings:

The same logging functions are also available in shell functions, under the names bbplain, bbnote, bbdebug, bbwarn, bberror, and bbfatal. The logging class implements these functions. See that class in the meta/classes folder of the Source Directory for information.

     python do_listtasks() {
         bb.debug(2, "Starting to figure out the task list")
         if noteworthy_condition:
             bb.note("There are 47 tasks to run")
         bb.debug(2, "Got to point xyz")
         if warning_trigger:
             bb.warn("Detected warning_trigger, this might be a problem later.")
         if recoverable_error:
             bb.error("Hit recoverable_error, you really need to fix this!")
         if fatal_error:
             bb.fatal("fatal_error detected, unable to print the task list")
         bb.plain("The tasks present are abc")
         bb.debug(2, "Finished figuring out the tasklist")
     }
                

     do_my_function() {
         bbdebug 2 "Running do_my_function"
         if [ exceptional_condition ]; then
             bbnote "Hit exceptional_condition"
         fi
         bbdebug 2  "Got to point xyz"
         if [ warning_trigger ]; then
             bbwarn "Detected warning_trigger, this might cause a problem later."
         fi
         if [ recoverable_error ]; then
             bberror "Hit recoverable_error, correcting"
         fi
         if [ fatal_error ]; then
             bbfatal "fatal_error detected"
         fi
         bbdebug 2 "Completed do_my_function"
     }
                

Here are some other tips that you might find useful:

QEMU is made available with the Yocto Project a number of ways. One method is to install a Software Development Kit (SDK). For more information on how to make sure you have QEMU available, see "The QEMU Emulator" section in the Yocto Project Application Development and the Extensible Software Development Kit (eSDK) manual.

Using QEMU to emulate your hardware can result in speed issues depending on the target and host architecture mix. For example, using the qemux86 image in the emulator on an Intel-based 32-bit (x86) host machine is fast because the target and host architectures match. On the other hand, using the qemuarm image on the same Intel-based host can be slower. But, you still achieve faithful emulation of ARM-specific issues.

To speed things up, the QEMU images support using distcc to call a cross-compiler outside the emulated system. If you used runqemu to start QEMU, and the distccd application is present on the host system, any BitBake cross-compiling toolchain available from the build system is automatically used from within QEMU simply by calling distcc. You can accomplish this by defining the cross-compiler variable (e.g. export CC="distcc"). Alternatively, if you are using a suitable SDK image or the appropriate stand-alone toolchain is present, the toolchain is also automatically used.

The basic runqemu command syntax is as follows:

     $ runqemu [option ]  [...]
            

Based on what you provide on the command line, runqemu does a good job of figuring out what you are trying to do. For example, by default, QEMU looks for the most recently built image according to the timestamp when it needs to look for an image. Minimally, through the use of options, you must provide either a machine name, a virtual machine image (*wic.vmdk), or a kernel image (*.bin).

Following is the command-line help output for the runqemu command:

     $ runqemu --help

     Usage: you can run this script with any valid combination
     of the following environment variables (in any order):
       KERNEL - the kernel image file to use
       ROOTFS - the rootfs image file or nfsroot directory to use
       MACHINE - the machine name (optional, autodetected from KERNEL filename if unspecified)
       Simplified QEMU command-line options can be passed with:
         nographic - disable video console
         serial - enable a serial console on /dev/ttyS0
         slirp - enable user networking, no root privileges is required
         kvm - enable KVM when running x86/x86_64 (VT-capable CPU required)
         kvm-vhost - enable KVM with vhost when running x86/x86_64 (VT-capable CPU required)
         publicvnc - enable a VNC server open to all hosts
         audio - enable audio
         [*/]ovmf* - OVMF firmware file or base name for booting with UEFI
       tcpserial=<port> - specify tcp serial port number
       biosdir=<dir> - specify custom bios dir
       biosfilename=<filename> - specify bios filename
       qemuparams=<xyz> - specify custom parameters to QEMU
       bootparams=<xyz> - specify custom kernel parameters during boot
       help, -h, --help: print this text

     Examples:
       runqemu
       runqemu qemuarm
       runqemu tmp/deploy/images/qemuarm
       runqemu tmp/deploy/images/qemux86/<qemuboot.conf>
       runqemu qemux86-64 core-image-sato ext4
       runqemu qemux86-64 wic-image-minimal wic
       runqemu path/to/bzImage-qemux86.bin path/to/nfsrootdir/ serial
       runqemu qemux86 iso/hddimg/wic.vmdk/wic.qcow2/wic.vdi/ramfs/cpio.gz...
       runqemu qemux86 qemuparams="-m 256"
       runqemu qemux86 bootparams="psplash=false"
       runqemu path/to/<image>-<machine>.wic
       runqemu path/to/<image>-<machine>.wic.vmdk
            

Following is a description of runqemu options you can provide on the command line:

Build history is disabled by default. To enable it, add the following INHERIT statement and set the BUILDHISTORY_COMMIT variable to "1" at the end of your conf/local.conf file found in the Build Directory:

     INHERIT += "buildhistory"
     BUILDHISTORY_COMMIT = "1"
            

Enabling build history as previously described causes the OpenEmbedded build system to collect build output information and commit it as a single commit to a local Git repository.

You can disable build history by removing the previous statements from your conf/local.conf file.

Build history information is kept in ${TOPDIR}/buildhistory in the Build Directory as defined by the BUILDHISTORY_DIR variable. The following is an example abbreviated listing:

At the top level, there is a metadata-revs file that lists the revisions of the repositories for the layers enabled when the build was produced. The rest of the data splits into separate packages, images and sdk directories, the contents of which are described below.

     PV = 1.22.1
     PR = r32
     RPROVIDES =
     RDEPENDS = glibc (>= 2.20) update-alternatives-opkg
     RRECOMMENDS = busybox-syslog busybox-udhcpc update-rc.d
     PKGSIZE = 540168
     FILES = /usr/bin/* /usr/sbin/* /usr/lib/busybox/* /usr/lib/lib*.so.* \
        /etc /com /var /bin/* /sbin/* /lib/*.so.* /lib/udev/rules.d \
        /usr/lib/udev/rules.d /usr/share/busybox /usr/lib/busybox/* \
        /usr/share/pixmaps /usr/share/applications /usr/share/idl \
        /usr/share/omf /usr/share/sounds /usr/lib/bonobo/servers
     FILELIST = /bin/busybox /bin/busybox.nosuid /bin/busybox.suid /bin/sh \
        /etc/busybox.links.nosuid /etc/busybox.links.suid
                

     PV = 1.22.1
     PR = r32
     DEPENDS = initscripts kern-tools-native update-rc.d-native \
        virtual/i586-poky-linux-compilerlibs virtual/i586-poky-linux-gcc \
        virtual/libc virtual/update-alternatives
     PACKAGES = busybox-ptest busybox-httpd busybox-udhcpd busybox-udhcpc \
        busybox-syslog busybox-mdev busybox-hwclock busybox-dbg \
        busybox-staticdev busybox-dev busybox-doc busybox-locale busybox
                

     # SRCREV_machine = "38cd560d5022ed2dbd1ab0dca9642e47c98a0aa1"
     SRCREV_machine = "38cd560d5022ed2dbd1ab0dca9642e47c98a0aa1"
     # SRCREV_meta = "a227f20eff056e511d504b2e490f3774ab260d6f"
     SRCREV_meta = "a227f20eff056e511d504b2e490f3774ab260d6f"
                

     $ buildhistory-collect-srcrevs -a
     # i586-poky-linux
     SRCREV_pn-glibc = "b8079dd0d360648e4e8de48656c5c38972621072"
     SRCREV_pn-glibc-initial = "b8079dd0d360648e4e8de48656c5c38972621072"
     SRCREV_pn-opkg-utils = "53274f087565fd45d8452c5367997ba6a682a37a"
     SRCREV_pn-kmod = "fd56638aed3fe147015bfa10ed4a5f7491303cb4"
     # x86_64-linux
     SRCREV_pn-gtk-doc-stub-native = "1dea266593edb766d6d898c79451ef193eb17cfa"
     SRCREV_pn-dtc-native = "65cc4d2748a2c2e6f27f1cf39e07a5dbabd80ebf"
     SRCREV_pn-update-rc.d-native = "eca680ddf28d024954895f59a241a622dd575c11"
     SRCREV_glibc_pn-cross-localedef-native = "b8079dd0d360648e4e8de48656c5c38972621072"
     SRCREV_localedef_pn-cross-localedef-native = "c833367348d39dad7ba018990bfdaffaec8e9ed3"
     SRCREV_pn-prelink-native = "faa069deec99bf61418d0bab831c83d7c1b797ca"
     SRCREV_pn-opkg-utils-native = "53274f087565fd45d8452c5367997ba6a682a37a"
     SRCREV_pn-kern-tools-native = "23345b8846fe4bd167efdf1bd8a1224b2ba9a5ff"
     SRCREV_pn-kmod-native = "fd56638aed3fe147015bfa10ed4a5f7491303cb4"
     # qemux86-poky-linux
     SRCREV_machine_pn-linux-yocto = "38cd560d5022ed2dbd1ab0dca9642e47c98a0aa1"
     SRCREV_meta_pn-linux-yocto = "a227f20eff056e511d504b2e490f3774ab260d6f"
     # all-poky-linux
     SRCREV_pn-update-rc.d = "eca680ddf28d024954895f59a241a622dd575c11"
                

     DISTRO = poky
     DISTRO_VERSION = 1.7
     USER_CLASSES = buildstats image-mklibs image-prelink
     IMAGE_CLASSES = image_types
     IMAGE_FEATURES = debug-tweaks
     IMAGE_LINGUAS =
     IMAGE_INSTALL = packagegroup-core-boot run-postinsts
     BAD_RECOMMENDATIONS =
     NO_RECOMMENDATIONS =
     PACKAGE_EXCLUDE =
     ROOTFS_POSTPROCESS_COMMAND = write_package_manifest; license_create_manifest; \
        write_image_manifest ; buildhistory_list_installed_image ; \
        buildhistory_get_image_installed ; ssh_allow_empty_password;  \
        postinst_enable_logging; rootfs_update_timestamp ; ssh_disable_dns_lookup ;
     IMAGE_POSTPROCESS_COMMAND =   buildhistory_get_imageinfo ;
     IMAGESIZE = 6900
                

     INHERIT += "buildhistory"
     BUILDHISTORY_COMMIT = "0"
     BUILDHISTORY_FEATURES = "image"
                

     DISTRO = poky
     DISTRO_VERSION = 1.3+snapshot-20130327
     SDK_NAME = poky-glibc-i686-arm
     SDK_VERSION = 1.3+snapshot
     SDKMACHINE =
     SDKIMAGE_FEATURES = dev-pkgs dbg-pkgs
     BAD_RECOMMENDATIONS =
     SDKSIZE = 352712
                

2.5.2.5. Examining Build History Information¶

You can examine build history output from the command line or from a web interface.

To see any changes that have occurred (assuming you have BUILDHISTORY_COMMIT = "1"), you can simply use any Git command that allows you to view the history of a repository. Here is one method:

      $ git log -p
                

You need to realize, however, that this method does show changes that are not significant (e.g. a package's size changing by a few bytes).

A command-line tool called buildhistory-diff does exist, though, that queries the Git repository and prints just the differences that might be significant in human-readable form. Here is an example:

     $ ~/poky/poky/scripts/buildhistory-diff . HEAD^
     Changes to images/qemux86_64/glibc/core-image-minimal (files-in-image.txt):
        /etc/anotherpkg.conf was added
        /sbin/anotherpkg was added
        * (installed-package-names.txt):
        *   anotherpkg was added
     Changes to images/qemux86_64/glibc/core-image-minimal (installed-package-names.txt):
        anotherpkg was added
     packages/qemux86_64-poky-linux/v86d: PACKAGES: added "v86d-extras"
        * PR changed from "r0" to "r1"
        * PV changed from "0.1.10" to "0.1.12"
     packages/qemux86_64-poky-linux/v86d/v86d: PKGSIZE changed from 110579 to 144381 (+30%)
        * PR changed from "r0" to "r1"
        * PV changed from "0.1.10" to "0.1.12"
                

Note

The buildhistory-diff tool requires the GitPython package. Be sure to install it using Pip3 as follows:

   $ pip3 install GitPython --user
                    

Alternatively, you can install python3-git using the appropriate distribution package manager (e.g. apt-get, dnf, or zipper).

To see changes to the build history using a web interface, follow the instruction in the README file here. http://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit/cgit.cgi/buildhistory-web/.

Here is a sample screenshot of the interface:

As mentioned briefly in the previous section and also in the "Workflows" section, the Yocto Project maintains source repositories at http://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit.cgi. If you look at this web-interface of the repositories, each item is a separate Git repository.

Git repositories use branching techniques that track content change (not files) within a project (e.g. a new feature or updated documentation). Creating a tree-like structure based on project divergence allows for excellent historical information over the life of a project. This methodology also allows for an environment from which you can do lots of local experimentation on projects as you develop changes or new features.

A Git repository represents all development efforts for a given project. For example, the Git repository poky contains all changes and developments for Poky over the course of its entire life. That means that all changes that make up all releases are captured. The repository maintains a complete history of changes.

You can create a local copy of any repository by "cloning" it with the git clone command. When you clone a Git repository, you end up with an identical copy of the repository on your development system. Once you have a local copy of a repository, you can take steps to develop locally. For examples on how to clone Git repositories, see the "Working With Yocto Project Source Files" section in the Yocto Project Development Tasks Manual.

It is important to understand that Git tracks content change and not files. Git uses "branches" to organize different development efforts. For example, the poky repository has several branches that include the current "rocko" branch, the "master" branch, and many branches for past Yocto Project releases. You can see all the branches by going to http://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit.cgi/poky/ and clicking on the [...] link beneath the "Branch" heading.

Each of these branches represents a specific area of development. The "master" branch represents the current or most recent development. All other branches represent offshoots of the "master" branch.

When you create a local copy of a Git repository, the copy has the same set of branches as the original. This means you can use Git to create a local working area (also called a branch) that tracks a specific development branch from the upstream source Git repository. in other words, you can define your local Git environment to work on any development branch in the repository. To help illustrate, consider the following example Git commands:

     $ cd ~
     $ git clone git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky
     $ cd poky
     $ git checkout -b rocko origin/rocko
            

In the previous example after moving to the home directory, the git clone command creates a local copy of the upstream poky Git repository. By default, Git checks out the "master" branch for your work. After changing the working directory to the new local repository (i.e. poky), the git checkout command creates and checks out a local branch named "rocko", which tracks the upstream "origin/rocko" branch. Changes you make while in this branch would ultimately affect the upstream "rocko" branch of the poky repository.

It is important to understand that when you create and checkout a local working branch based on a branch name, your local environment matches the "tip" of that particular development branch at the time you created your local branch, which could be different from the files in the "master" branch of the upstream repository. In other words, creating and checking out a local branch based on the "rocko" branch name is not the same as cloning and checking out the "master" branch if the repository. Keep reading to see how you create a local snapshot of a Yocto Project Release.

Git uses "tags" to mark specific changes in a repository. Typically, a tag is used to mark a special point such as the final change before a project is released. You can see the tags used with the poky Git repository by going to http://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit.cgi/poky/ and clicking on the [...] link beneath the "Tag" heading.

Some key tags for the poky are jethro-14.0.3, morty-16.0.1, pyro-17.0.0, and rocko-19.0.0. These tags represent Yocto Project releases.

When you create a local copy of the Git repository, you also have access to all the tags in the upstream repository. Similar to branches, you can create and checkout a local working Git branch based on a tag name. When you do this, you get a snapshot of the Git repository that reflects the state of the files when the change was made associated with that tag. The most common use is to checkout a working branch that matches a specific Yocto Project release. Here is an example:

     $ cd ~
     $ git clone git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky
     $ cd poky
     $ git fetch --all --tags --prune
     $ git checkout tags/pyro-17.0.0 -b my-pyro-17.0.0
            

In this example, the name of the top-level directory of your local Yocto Project repository is poky. After moving to the poky directory, the git fetch command makes all the upstream tags available locally in your repository. Finally, the git checkout command creates and checks out a branch named "my-pyro-17.0.0" that is based on the specific change upstream in the repository associated with the "pyro-17.0.0" tag. The files in your repository now exactly match that particular Yocto Project release as it is tagged in the upstream Git repository. It is important to understand that when you create and checkout a local working branch based on a tag, your environment matches a specific point in time and not the entire development branch (i.e. the "tip" of the branch).

Git has an extensive set of commands that lets you manage changes and perform collaboration over the life of a project. Conveniently though, you can manage with a small set of basic operations and workflows once you understand the basic philosophy behind Git. You do not have to be an expert in Git to be functional. A good place to look for instruction on a minimal set of Git commands is here.

If you do not know much about Git, you should educate yourself by visiting the links previously mentioned.

The following list of Git commands briefly describes some basic Git operations as a way to get started. As with any set of commands, this list (in most cases) simply shows the base command and omits the many arguments they support. See the Git documentation for complete descriptions and strategies on how to use these commands:

User configuration helps define the build. Through user configuration, you can tell BitBake the target architecture for which you are building the image, where to store downloaded source, and other build properties.

The following figure shows an expanded representation of the "User Configuration" box of the general Yocto Project Development Environment figure:

BitBake needs some basic configuration files in order to complete a build. These files are *.conf files. The minimally necessary ones reside as example files in the Source Directory. For simplicity, this section refers to the Source Directory as the "Poky Directory."

When you clone the poky Git repository or you download and unpack a Yocto Project release, you can set up the Source Directory to be named anything you want. For this discussion, the cloned repository uses the default name poky.

The meta-poky layer inside Poky contains a conf directory that has example configuration files. These example files are used as a basis for creating actual configuration files when you source the build environment script (i.e. oe-init-build-env).

Sourcing the build environment script creates a Build Directory if one does not already exist. BitBake uses the Build Directory for all its work during builds. The Build Directory has a conf directory that contains default versions of your local.conf and bblayers.conf configuration files. These default configuration files are created only if versions do not already exist in the Build Directory at the time you source the build environment setup script.

Because the Poky repository is fundamentally an aggregation of existing repositories, some users might be familiar with running the oe-init-build-env script in the context of separate OpenEmbedded-Core and BitBake repositories rather than a single Poky repository. This discussion assumes the script is executed from within a cloned or unpacked version of Poky.

Depending on where the script is sourced, different sub-scripts are called to set up the Build Directory (Yocto or OpenEmbedded). Specifically, the script scripts/oe-setup-builddir inside the poky directory sets up the Build Directory and seeds the directory (if necessary) with configuration files appropriate for the Yocto Project development environment.

The local.conf file provides many basic variables that define a build environment. Here is a list of a few. To see the default configurations in a local.conf file created by the build environment script, see the local.conf.sample in the meta-poky layer:

The bblayers.conf file tells BitBake what layers you want considered during the build. By default, the layers listed in this file include layers minimally needed by the build system. However, you must manually add any custom layers you have created. You can find more information on working with the bblayers.conf file in the "Enabling Your Layer" section in the Yocto Project Development Tasks Manual.

The files site.conf and auto.conf are not created by the environment initialization script. If you want the site.conf file, you need to create that yourself. The auto.conf file is typically created by an autobuilder:

You can edit all configuration files to further define any particular build environment. This process is represented by the "User Configuration Edits" box in the figure.

When you launch your build with the bitbake target command, BitBake sorts out the configurations to ultimately define your build environment. It is important to understand that the OpenEmbedded build system reads the configuration files in a specific order: site.conf, auto.conf, and local.conf. And, the build system applies the normal assignment statement rules. Because the files are parsed in a specific order, variable assignments for the same variable could be affected. For example, if the auto.conf file and the local.conf set variable1 to different values, because the build system parses local.conf after auto.conf, variable1 is assigned the value from the local.conf file.

The previous section described the user configurations that define BitBake's global behavior. This section takes a closer look at the layers the build system uses to further control the build. These layers provide Metadata for the software, machine, and policy.

In general, three types of layer input exist:

The following figure shows an expanded representation of the Metadata, Machine Configuration, and Policy Configuration input (layers) boxes of the general Yocto Project Development Environment figure:

In general, all layers have a similar structure. They all contain a licensing file (e.g. COPYING) if the layer is to be distributed, a README file as good practice and especially if the layer is to be distributed, a configuration directory, and recipe directories.

The Yocto Project has many layers that can be used. You can see a web-interface listing of them on the Source Repositories page. The layers are shown at the bottom categorized under "Yocto Metadata Layers." These layers are fundamentally a subset of the OpenEmbedded Metadata Index, which lists all layers provided by the OpenEmbedded community.

BitBake uses the conf/bblayers.conf file, which is part of the user configuration, to find what layers it should be using as part of the build.

For more information on layers, see the "Understanding and Creating Layers" section in the Yocto Project Development Tasks Manual.

In order for the OpenEmbedded build system to create an image or any target, it must be able to access source files. The general Yocto Project Development Environment figure represents source files using the "Upstream Project Releases", "Local Projects", and "SCMs (optional)" boxes. The figure represents mirrors, which also play a role in locating source files, with the "Source Mirror(s)" box.

The method by which source files are ultimately organized is a function of the project. For example, for released software, projects tend to use tarballs or other archived files that can capture the state of a release guaranteeing that it is statically represented. On the other hand, for a project that is more dynamic or experimental in nature, a project might keep source files in a repository controlled by a Source Control Manager (SCM) such as Git. Pulling source from a repository allows you to control the point in the repository (the revision) from which you want to build software. Finally, a combination of the two might exist, which would give the consumer a choice when deciding where to get source files.

BitBake uses the SRC_URI variable to point to source files regardless of their location. Each recipe must have a SRC_URI variable that points to the source.

Another area that plays a significant role in where source files come from is pointed to by the DL_DIR variable. This area is a cache that can hold previously downloaded source. You can also instruct the OpenEmbedded build system to create tarballs from Git repositories, which is not the default behavior, and store them in the DL_DIR by using the BB_GENERATE_MIRROR_TARBALLS variable.

Judicious use of a DL_DIR directory can save the build system a trip across the Internet when looking for files. A good method for using a download directory is to have DL_DIR point to an area outside of your Build Directory. Doing so allows you to safely delete the Build Directory if needed without fear of removing any downloaded source file.

The remainder of this section provides a deeper look into the source files and the mirrors. Here is a more detailed look at the source file area of the base figure:

When the OpenEmbedded build system generates an image or an SDK, it gets the packages from a package feed area located in the Build Directory. The general Yocto Project Development Environment figure shows this package feeds area in the upper-right corner.

This section looks a little closer into the package feeds area used by the build system. Here is a more detailed look at the area:

Package feeds are an intermediary step in the build process. The OpenEmbedded build system provides classes to generate different package types, and you specify which classes to enable through the PACKAGE_CLASSES variable. Before placing the packages into package feeds, the build process validates them with generated output quality assurance checks through the insane class.

The package feed area resides in the Build Directory. The directory the build system uses to temporarily store packages is determined by a combination of variables and the particular package manager in use. See the "Package Feeds" box in the illustration and note the information to the right of that area. In particular, the following defines where package files are kept:

BitBake uses the do_package_write_* tasks to generate packages and place them into the package holding area (e.g. do_package_write_ipk for IPK packages). See the "do_package_write_deb", "do_package_write_ipk", "do_package_write_rpm", and "do_package_write_tar" sections for additional information. As an example, consider a scenario where an IPK packaging manager is being used and package architecture support for both i586 and qemux86 exist. Packages for the i586 architecture are placed in build/tmp/deploy/ipk/i586, while packages for the qemux86 architecture are placed in build/tmp/deploy/ipk/qemux86.

The OpenEmbedded build system uses BitBake to produce images. You can see from the general Yocto Project Development Environment figure, the BitBake area consists of several functional areas. This section takes a closer look at each of those areas.

Separate documentation exists for the BitBake tool. See the BitBake User Manual for reference material on BitBake.

3.7.5.1. Source Fetching¶

The first stages of building a recipe are to fetch and unpack the source code:

The do_fetch and do_unpack tasks fetch the source files and unpack them into the work directory.

Note

For every local file (e.g. file://) that is part of a recipe's SRC_URI statement, the OpenEmbedded build system takes a checksum of the file for the recipe and inserts the checksum into the signature for the do_fetch. If any local file has been modified, the do_fetch task and all tasks that depend on it are re-executed.

By default, everything is accomplished in the Build Directory, which has a defined structure. For additional general information on the Build Directory, see the "build/" section.

Unpacked source files are pointed to by the S variable. Each recipe has an area in the Build Directory where the unpacked source code resides. The name of that directory for any given recipe is defined from several different variables. You can see the variables that define these directories by looking at the figure:

• TMPDIR - The base directory where the OpenEmbedded build system performs all its work during the build.

• PACKAGE_ARCH - The architecture of the built package or packages.

• TARGET_OS - The operating system of the target device.

• PN - The name of the built package.

• PV - The version of the recipe used to build the package.

• PR - The revision of the recipe used to build the package.

• WORKDIR - The location within TMPDIR where a specific package is built.

• S - Contains the unpacked source files for a given recipe.

3.7.5.2. Patching¶

Once source code is fetched and unpacked, BitBake locates patch files and applies them to the source files:

The do_patch task processes recipes by using the SRC_URI variable to locate applicable patch files, which by default are *.patch or *.diff files, or any file if "apply=yes" is specified for the file in SRC_URI.

BitBake finds and applies multiple patches for a single recipe in the order in which it finds the patches. Patches are applied to the recipe's source files located in the S directory.

For more information on how the source directories are created, see the "Source Fetching" section.

3.7.5.3. Configuration and Compilation¶

After source code is patched, BitBake executes tasks that configure and compile the source code:

This step in the build process consists of three tasks:

• do_prepare_recipe_sysroot: This task sets up the two sysroots in ${WORKDIR} (i.e. recipe-sysroot and recipe-sysroot-native) so that the sysroots contain the contents of the do_populate_sysroot tasks of the recipes on which the recipe containing the tasks depends. A sysroot exists for both the target and for the native binaries, which run on the host system.

• do_configure: This task configures the source by enabling and disabling any build-time and configuration options for the software being built. Configurations can come from the recipe itself as well as from an inherited class. Additionally, the software itself might configure itself depending on the target for which it is being built.

  The configurations handled by the do_configure task are specific to source code configuration for the source code being built by the recipe.

  If you are using the autotools class, you can add additional configuration options by using the EXTRA_OECONF or PACKAGECONFIG_CONFARGS variables. For information on how this variable works within that class, see the meta/classes/autotools.bbclass file.

• do_compile: Once a configuration task has been satisfied, BitBake compiles the source using the do_compile task. Compilation occurs in the directory pointed to by the B variable. Realize that the B directory is, by default, the same as the S directory.

• do_install: Once compilation is done, BitBake executes the do_install task. This task copies files from the B directory and places them in a holding area pointed to by the D variable.

3.7.5.4. Package Splitting¶

After source code is configured and compiled, the OpenEmbedded build system analyzes the results and splits the output into packages:

The do_package and do_packagedata tasks combine to analyze the files found in the D directory and split them into subsets based on available packages and files. The analyzing process involves the following as well as other items: splitting out debugging symbols, looking at shared library dependencies between packages, and looking at package relationships. The do_packagedata task creates package metadata based on the analysis such that the OpenEmbedded build system can generate the final packages. Working, staged, and intermediate results of the analysis and package splitting process use these areas:

• PKGD - The destination directory for packages before they are split.

• PKGDATA_DIR - A shared, global-state directory that holds data generated during the packaging process.

• PKGDESTWORK - A temporary work area used by the do_package task.

• PKGDEST - The parent directory for packages after they have been split.

The FILES variable defines the files that go into each package in PACKAGES. If you want details on how this is accomplished, you can look at the package class.

Depending on the type of packages being created (RPM, DEB, or IPK), the do_package_write_* task creates the actual packages and places them in the Package Feed area, which is ${TMPDIR}/deploy. You can see the "Package Feeds" section for more detail on that part of the build process.

Note

Support for creating feeds directly from the deploy/* directories does not exist. Creating such feeds usually requires some kind of feed maintenance mechanism that would upload the new packages into an official package feed (e.g. the Ångström distribution). This functionality is highly distribution-specific and thus is not provided out of the box.

3.7.5.5. Image Generation¶

Once packages are split and stored in the Package Feeds area, the OpenEmbedded build system uses BitBake to generate the root filesystem image:

The image generation process consists of several stages and depends on several tasks and variables. The do_rootfs task creates the root filesystem (file and directory structure) for an image. This task uses several key variables to help create the list of packages to actually install:

• IMAGE_INSTALL: Lists out the base set of packages to install from the Package Feeds area.

• PACKAGE_EXCLUDE: Specifies packages that should not be installed.

• IMAGE_FEATURES: Specifies features to include in the image. Most of these features map to additional packages for installation.

• PACKAGE_CLASSES: Specifies the package backend to use and consequently helps determine where to locate packages within the Package Feeds area.

• IMAGE_LINGUAS: Determines the language(s) for which additional language support packages are installed.

• PACKAGE_INSTALL: The final list of packages passed to the package manager for installation into the image.

With IMAGE_ROOTFS pointing to the location of the filesystem under construction and the PACKAGE_INSTALL variable providing the final list of packages to install, the root file system is created.

Package installation is under control of the package manager (e.g. dnf/rpm, opkg, or apt/dpkg) regardless of whether or not package management is enabled for the target. At the end of the process, if package management is not enabled for the target, the package manager's data files are deleted from the root filesystem. As part of the final stage of package installation, postinstall scripts that are part of the packages are run. Any scripts that fail to run on the build host are run on the target when the target system is first booted. If you are using a read-only root filesystem, all the post installation scripts must succeed during the package installation phase since the root filesystem is read-only.

The final stages of the do_rootfs task handle post processing. Post processing includes creation of a manifest file and optimizations.

The manifest file (.manifest) resides in the same directory as the root filesystem image. This file lists out, line-by-line, the installed packages. The manifest file is useful for the testimage class, for example, to determine whether or not to run specific tests. See the IMAGE_MANIFEST variable for additional information.

Optimizing processes run across the image include mklibs, prelink, and any other post-processing commands as defined by the ROOTFS_POSTPROCESS_COMMAND variable. The mklibs process optimizes the size of the libraries, while the prelink process optimizes the dynamic linking of shared libraries to reduce start up time of executables.

After the root filesystem is built, processing begins on the image through the do_image task. The build system runs any pre-processing commands as defined by the IMAGE_PREPROCESS_COMMAND variable. This variable specifies a list of functions to call before the OpenEmbedded build system creates the final image output files.

The OpenEmbedded build system dynamically creates do_image_* tasks as needed, based on the image types specified in the IMAGE_FSTYPES variable. The process turns everything into an image file or a set of image files and compresses the root filesystem image to reduce the overall size of the image. The formats used for the root filesystem depend on the IMAGE_FSTYPES variable.

As an example, a dynamically created task when creating a particular image type would take the following form:

     do_image_type[depends]
                

So, if the type as specified by the IMAGE_FSTYPES were ext4, the dynamically generated task would be as follows:

     do_image_ext4[depends]
                

The final task involved in image creation is the do_image_complete task. This task completes the image by applying any image post processing as defined through the IMAGE_POSTPROCESS_COMMAND variable. The variable specifies a list of functions to call once the OpenEmbedded build system has created the final image output files.

Note

The entire image generation process is run under Pseudo. Running under Pseudo ensures that the files in the root filesystem have correct ownership.

The images produced by the OpenEmbedded build system are compressed forms of the root filesystem that are ready to boot on a target device. You can see from the general Yocto Project Development Environment figure that BitBake output, in part, consists of images. This section is going to look more closely at this output:

For a list of example images that the Yocto Project provides, see the "Images" chapter.

Images are written out to the Build Directory inside the tmp/deploy/images/machine/ folder as shown in the figure. This folder contains any files expected to be loaded on the target device. The DEPLOY_DIR variable points to the deploy directory, while the DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE variable points to the appropriate directory containing images for the current configuration.

In the general Yocto Project Development Environment figure, the output labeled "Application Development SDK" represents an SDK. The SDK generation process differs depending on whether you build a standard SDK (e.g. bitbake -c populate_sdk imagename) or an extensible SDK (e.g. bitbake -c populate_sdk_ext imagename). This section is going to take a closer look at this output:

The specific form of this output is a self-extracting SDK installer (*.sh) that, when run, installs the SDK, which consists of a cross-development toolchain, a set of libraries and headers, and an SDK environment setup script. Running this installer essentially sets up your cross-development environment. You can think of the cross-toolchain as the "host" part because it runs on the SDK machine. You can think of the libraries and headers as the "target" part because they are built for the target hardware. The environment setup script is added so that you can initialize the environment before using the tools.

Once built, the SDK installers are written out to the deploy/sdk folder inside the Build Directory as shown in the figure at the beginning of this section. Depending on the type of SDK, several variables exist that help configure these files. The following list shows the variables associated with a standard SDK:

This next list, shows the variables associated with an extensible SDK:

BitBake is the tool at the heart of the OpenEmbedded build system and is responsible for parsing the Metadata, generating a list of tasks from it, and then executing those tasks.

This section briefly introduces BitBake. If you want more information on BitBake, see the BitBake User Manual.

To see a list of the options BitBake supports, use either of the following commands:

     $ bitbake -h
     $ bitbake --help
            

The most common usage for BitBake is bitbake packagename, where packagename is the name of the package you want to build (referred to as the "target" in this manual). The target often equates to the first part of a recipe's filename (e.g. "foo" for a recipe named foo_1.3.0-r0.bb). So, to process the matchbox-desktop_1.2.3.bb recipe file, you might type the following:

     $ bitbake matchbox-desktop
            

Several different versions of matchbox-desktop might exist. BitBake chooses the one selected by the distribution configuration. You can get more details about how BitBake chooses between different target versions and providers in the "Preferences" section of the BitBake User Manual.

BitBake also tries to execute any dependent tasks first. So for example, before building matchbox-desktop, BitBake would build a cross compiler and glibc if they had not already been built.

A useful BitBake option to consider is the -k or --continue option. This option instructs BitBake to try and continue processing the job as long as possible even after encountering an error. When an error occurs, the target that failed and those that depend on it cannot be remade. However, when you use this option other dependencies can still be processed.

Files that have the .bb suffix are "recipes" files. In general, a recipe contains information about a single piece of software. This information includes the location from which to download the unaltered source, any source patches to be applied to that source (if needed), which special configuration options to apply, how to compile the source files, and how to package the compiled output.

The term "package" is sometimes used to refer to recipes. However, since the word "package" is used for the packaged output from the OpenEmbedded build system (i.e. .ipk or .deb files), this document avoids using the term "package" when referring to recipes.

Prior to the build, if you know that several different recipes provide the same functionality, you can use a virtual provider (i.e. virtual/*) as a placeholder for the actual provider. The actual provider would be determined at build time. In this case, you should add virtual/* to DEPENDS, rather than listing the specified provider. You would select the actual provider by setting the PREFERRED_PROVIDER variable (i.e. PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/*) in the build's configuration file (e.g. poky/build/conf/local.conf).

The following lists specific examples of virtual providers:

Class files (.bbclass) contain information that is useful to share between Metadata files. An example is the autotools class, which contains common settings for any application that Autotools uses. The "Classes" chapter provides details about classes and how to use them.

The configuration files (.conf) define various configuration variables that govern the OpenEmbedded build process. These files fall into several areas that define machine configuration options, distribution configuration options, compiler tuning options, general common configuration options, and user configuration options in local.conf, which is found in the Build Directory.

When determining what parts of the system need to be built, BitBake works on a per-task basis rather than a per-recipe basis. You might wonder why using a per-task basis is preferred over a per-recipe basis. To help explain, consider having the IPK packaging backend enabled and then switching to DEB. In this case, the do_install and do_package task outputs are still valid. However, with a per-recipe approach, the build would not include the .deb files. Consequently, you would have to invalidate the whole build and rerun it. Rerunning everything is not the best solution. Also, in this case, the core must be "taught" much about specific tasks. This methodology does not scale well and does not allow users to easily add new tasks in layers or as external recipes without touching the packaged-staging core.

The shared state code uses a checksum, which is a unique signature of a task's inputs, to determine if a task needs to be run again. Because it is a change in a task's inputs that triggers a rerun, the process needs to detect all the inputs to a given task. For shell tasks, this turns out to be fairly easy because the build process generates a "run" shell script for each task and it is possible to create a checksum that gives you a good idea of when the task's data changes.

To complicate the problem, there are things that should not be included in the checksum. First, there is the actual specific build path of a given task - the WORKDIR. It does not matter if the work directory changes because it should not affect the output for target packages. Also, the build process has the objective of making native or cross packages relocatable.

The checksum therefore needs to exclude WORKDIR. The simplistic approach for excluding the work directory is to set WORKDIR to some fixed value and create the checksum for the "run" script.

Another problem results from the "run" scripts containing functions that might or might not get called. The incremental build solution contains code that figures out dependencies between shell functions. This code is used to prune the "run" scripts down to the minimum set, thereby alleviating this problem and making the "run" scripts much more readable as a bonus.

So far we have solutions for shell scripts. What about Python tasks? The same approach applies even though these tasks are more difficult. The process needs to figure out what variables a Python function accesses and what functions it calls. Again, the incremental build solution contains code that first figures out the variable and function dependencies, and then creates a checksum for the data used as the input to the task.

Like the WORKDIR case, situations exist where dependencies should be ignored. For these cases, you can instruct the build process to ignore a dependency by using a line like the following:

     PACKAGE_ARCHS[vardepsexclude] = "MACHINE"
            

This example ensures that the PACKAGE_ARCHS variable does not depend on the value of MACHINE, even if it does reference it.

Equally, there are cases where we need to add dependencies BitBake is not able to find. You can accomplish this by using a line like the following:

      PACKAGE_ARCHS[vardeps] = "MACHINE"
            

This example explicitly adds the MACHINE variable as a dependency for PACKAGE_ARCHS.

Consider a case with in-line Python, for example, where BitBake is not able to figure out dependencies. When running in debug mode (i.e. using -DDD), BitBake produces output when it discovers something for which it cannot figure out dependencies. The Yocto Project team has currently not managed to cover those dependencies in detail and is aware of the need to fix this situation.

Thus far, this section has limited discussion to the direct inputs into a task. Information based on direct inputs is referred to as the "basehash" in the code. However, there is still the question of a task's indirect inputs - the things that were already built and present in the Build Directory. The checksum (or signature) for a particular task needs to add the hashes of all the tasks on which the particular task depends. Choosing which dependencies to add is a policy decision. However, the effect is to generate a master checksum that combines the basehash and the hashes of the task's dependencies.

At the code level, there are a variety of ways both the basehash and the dependent task hashes can be influenced. Within the BitBake configuration file, we can give BitBake some extra information to help it construct the basehash. The following statement effectively results in a list of global variable dependency excludes - variables never included in any checksum:

     BB_HASHBASE_WHITELIST ?= "TMPDIR FILE PATH PWD BB_TASKHASH BBPATH DL_DIR \
         SSTATE_DIR THISDIR FILESEXTRAPATHS FILE_DIRNAME HOME LOGNAME SHELL TERM \
         USER FILESPATH STAGING_DIR_HOST STAGING_DIR_TARGET COREBASE PRSERV_HOST \
         PRSERV_DUMPDIR PRSERV_DUMPFILE PRSERV_LOCKDOWN PARALLEL_MAKE \
         CCACHE_DIR EXTERNAL_TOOLCHAIN CCACHE CCACHE_DISABLE LICENSE_PATH SDKPKGSUFFIX"
            

The previous example excludes WORKDIR since that variable is actually constructed as a path within TMPDIR, which is on the whitelist.

The rules for deciding which hashes of dependent tasks to include through dependency chains are more complex and are generally accomplished with a Python function. The code in meta/lib/oe/sstatesig.py shows two examples of this and also illustrates how you can insert your own policy into the system if so desired. This file defines the two basic signature generators OE-Core uses: "OEBasic" and "OEBasicHash". By default, there is a dummy "noop" signature handler enabled in BitBake. This means that behavior is unchanged from previous versions. OE-Core uses the "OEBasicHash" signature handler by default through this setting in the bitbake.conf file:

     BB_SIGNATURE_HANDLER ?= "OEBasicHash"
            

The "OEBasicHash" BB_SIGNATURE_HANDLER is the same as the "OEBasic" version but adds the task hash to the stamp files. This results in any Metadata change that changes the task hash, automatically causing the task to be run again. This removes the need to bump PR values, and changes to Metadata automatically ripple across the build.

It is also worth noting that the end result of these signature generators is to make some dependency and hash information available to the build. This information includes:

Checksums and dependencies, as discussed in the previous section, solve half the problem of supporting a shared state. The other part of the problem is being able to use checksum information during the build and being able to reuse or rebuild specific components.

The sstate class is a relatively generic implementation of how to "capture" a snapshot of a given task. The idea is that the build process does not care about the source of a task's output. Output could be freshly built or it could be downloaded and unpacked from somewhere - the build process does not need to worry about its origin.

There are two types of output, one is just about creating a directory in WORKDIR. A good example is the output of either do_install or do_package. The other type of output occurs when a set of data is merged into a shared directory tree such as the sysroot.

The Yocto Project team has tried to keep the details of the implementation hidden in sstate class. From a user's perspective, adding shared state wrapping to a task is as simple as this do_deploy example taken from the deploy class:

     DEPLOYDIR = "${WORKDIR}/deploy-${PN}"
     SSTATETASKS += "do_deploy"
     do_deploy[sstate-inputdirs] = "${DEPLOYDIR}"
     do_deploy[sstate-outputdirs] = "${DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE}"

     python do_deploy_setscene () {
         sstate_setscene(d)
     }
     addtask do_deploy_setscene
     do_deploy[dirs] = "${DEPLOYDIR} ${B}"
            

The following list explains the previous example:

Behind the scenes, the shared state code works by looking in SSTATE_DIR and SSTATE_MIRRORS for shared state files. Here is an example:

     SSTATE_MIRRORS ?= "\
     file://.* http://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;downloadfilename=PATH \n \
     file://.* file:///some/local/dir/sstate/PATH"
            

The shared state package validity can be detected just by looking at the filename since the filename contains the task checksum (or signature) as described earlier in this section. If a valid shared state package is found, the build process downloads it and uses it to accelerate the task.

The build processes use the *_setscene tasks for the task acceleration phase. BitBake goes through this phase before the main execution code and tries to accelerate any tasks for which it can find shared state packages. If a shared state package for a task is available, the shared state package is used. This means the task and any tasks on which it is dependent are not executed.

As a real world example, the aim is when building an IPK-based image, only the do_package_write_ipk tasks would have their shared state packages fetched and extracted. Since the sysroot is not used, it would never get extracted. This is another reason why a task-based approach is preferred over a recipe-based approach, which would have to install the output from every task.

The code in the build system that supports incremental builds is not simple code. This section presents some tips and tricks that help you work around issues related to shared state code.

This Yocto Project release supports the final specifications of x32 psABI. Support for x32 psABI exists as follows:

Future Plans for the x32 psABI in the Yocto Project include the following:

Follow these steps to use the x32 spABI:

The Wayland protocol libraries and the reference Weston compositor ship as integrated packages in the meta layer of the Source Directory. Specifically, you can find the recipes that build both Wayland and Weston at meta/recipes-graphics/wayland.

You can build both the Wayland and Weston packages for use only with targets that accept the Mesa 3D and Direct Rendering Infrastructure, which is also known as Mesa DRI. This implies that you cannot build and use the packages if your target uses, for example, the Intel® Embedded Media and Graphics Driver (Intel® EMGD) that overrides Mesa DRI.

To enable Wayland, you need to enable it to be built and enable it to be included in the image.

     DISTRO_FEATURES_append = " wayland"
                

     CORE_IMAGE_EXTRA_INSTALL += "wayland weston"
                

To run Weston inside X11, enabling it as described earlier and building a Sato image is sufficient. If you are running your image under Sato, a Weston Launcher appears in the "Utility" category.

Alternatively, you can run Weston through the command-line interpretor (CLI), which is better suited for development work. To run Weston under the CLI, you need to do the following after your image is built:

The license of an upstream project might change in the future. In order to prevent these changes going unnoticed, the LIC_FILES_CHKSUM variable tracks changes to the license text. The checksums are validated at the end of the configure step, and if the checksums do not match, the build will fail.

     LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://COPYING;md5=xxxx \
                         file://licfile1.txt;beginline=5;endline=29;md5=yyyy \
                         file://licfile2.txt;endline=50;md5=zzzz \
                         ..."
                

     LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://src/ls.c;beginline=5;endline=16;\
                                         md5=bb14ed3c4cda583abc85401304b5cd4e"
     LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${WORKDIR}/license.html;md5=5c94767cedb5d6987c902ac850ded2c6"
                

By default, the OpenEmbedded build system disables components that have commercial or other special licensing requirements. Such requirements are defined on a recipe-by-recipe basis through the LICENSE_FLAGS variable definition in the affected recipe. For instance, the poky/meta/recipes-multimedia/gstreamer/gst-plugins-ugly recipe contains the following statement:

     LICENSE_FLAGS = "commercial"
            

Here is a slightly more complicated example that contains both an explicit recipe name and version (after variable expansion):

     LICENSE_FLAGS = "license_${PN}_${PV}"
            

In order for a component restricted by a LICENSE_FLAGS definition to be enabled and included in an image, it needs to have a matching entry in the global LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST variable, which is a variable typically defined in your local.conf file. For example, to enable the poky/meta/recipes-multimedia/gstreamer/gst-plugins-ugly package, you could add either the string "commercial_gst-plugins-ugly" or the more general string "commercial" to LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST. See the "License Flag Matching" section for a full explanation of how LICENSE_FLAGS matching works. Here is the example:

     LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST = "commercial_gst-plugins-ugly"
            

Likewise, to additionally enable the package built from the recipe containing LICENSE_FLAGS = "license_${PN}_${PV}", and assuming that the actual recipe name was emgd_1.10.bb, the following string would enable that package as well as the original gst-plugins-ugly package:

     LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST = "commercial_gst-plugins-ugly license_emgd_1.10"
            

As a convenience, you do not need to specify the complete license string in the whitelist for every package. You can use an abbreviated form, which consists of just the first portion or portions of the license string before the initial underscore character or characters. A partial string will match any license that contains the given string as the first portion of its license. For example, the following whitelist string will also match both of the packages previously mentioned as well as any other packages that have licenses starting with "commercial" or "license".

     LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST = "commercial license"
            

     LICENSE_FLAGS = "commercial"
                

     COMMERCIAL_AUDIO_PLUGINS ?= ""
     COMMERCIAL_VIDEO_PLUGINS ?= ""
                

     COMMERCIAL_AUDIO_PLUGINS = "gst-plugins-ugly-mad \
        gst-plugins-ugly-mpegaudioparse"
     COMMERCIAL_VIDEO_PLUGINS = "gst-plugins-ugly-mpeg2dec \
        gst-plugins-ugly-mpegstream gst-plugins-bad-mpegvideoparse"
     LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST = "commercial_gst-plugins-ugly commercial_gst-plugins-bad commercial_qmmp"
                

     LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST = "commercial"
                

Differences include changes for SSTATE_MIRRORS and bblayers.conf.

     SSTATE_MIRRORS = "file://.* http://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH"
                

Differences include changes for the following: